The cœnaculum (dining-room), properly so called, was the place in the upper part of the house where they eat.[XXXI_1] It was reached by a staircase,[XXXI_2] and thither persons repaired during the summer, particularly in the country. The Roman villas terminated by a platform, on which the Romans often collected at meal-time; the air was not so hot, and the panorama of the neighbouring country-seats was presented without obstruction, to the gaze of the guests.[XXXI_3]
The dining-room was commonly decorated with fasces of arms and trophies,[XXXI_4] which served as a momento of the warlike virtues of the ancestors of the master of the house. Enchanting frescoes stood out marvellously from the obscure shading of the wall, round which were twined fresh garlands of flowers; and a mosaic floor—master-piece of art and patience—harmonised with the fascinating landscape of the ceiling, the site of which varied with every course.[XXXI_5]
The Emperor Nero, who carried this taste for the beautiful rather too far, devised a sort of vault, in the most elegant style, and entirely composed of movable leaves of ivory, which exhaled sweet
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE No. XXV.
No. 1. Large vase, or cratère; a vessel which was placed in the banqueting-room, and also on the empty space left on the tables. In it was put wine and water, which was taken out with a simpulum, a kind of small cup, fixed to a very long handle, bent at the extremity as a hook, to fill the cups of the guests. When the cratères were not fixed on tripods (engytheca, or angotheca), which supported them, they only differed from the cups by their size. Some were of such dimensions that Herodotus speaks of two cratères, one containing 300 amphoræ, and the other 600; there vases commonly exceeded ten-fold the size of the cups, to which they were very similar in shape and handles.
No. 2. A glass vase, with two handles, for iced water.
No. 3. Glass bottle, with its cup, placed on the table for each guest.
perfumes, and whence flowers fell on the guests. In another of his dining-rooms admiration was excited by a magnificent dome, the rotary movement of which imitated, day and night, the course of the celestial bodies.[XXXI_6] These prodigies of ancient mechanism adorned the palace that the prodigal Cæsar called “the gilded house.”[XXXI_7] The colossal statue of that prince rose in the middle of the hall: it was 120 feet high![XXXI_8]
Studious people, or those who wished to appear so, covered some part of the dining-room with books; for it was a custom introduced into Rome to have recitations or readings during the repast.[XXXI_9] Atticus had always a reader;[XXXI_10] and Juvenal promises the friend he invites to supper that he shall hear some fragments from Virgil and Homer.[XXXI_11]
The Greeks yielded willingly to this intellectual pastime at the commencement of the banquet, whilst incense and other perfumes filled the room with a light vapour.[XXXI_12]
Opposite the entrance-door stood a buffet, sometimes of iron, but more generally among the Greeks of sculptured wood, bronze, or silver, on which were represented the heads of oxen or satyrs.[XXXI_13] This piece of furniture was placed under the protection of Mercury, and a curtain commonly veiled the front of it. It served for the display of precious plate—vases of silver, silver-gilt, and gold, enriched with magnificent precious stones.[XXXI_14]
The buffet of the Romans,—a sort of sideboard, of rare workmanship,—was appropriated to the same use.[XXXI_15] Sometimes a single foot supported a white marble table, surrounded with a border of vert-antique, and plates and dishes were arranged on two elegant shelves placed above.[XXXI_16] Again, the artist frequently conceived the idea of giving a whimsical form to the buffet, which enhanced its price—it was a ship laden with the vases necessary for the banquet; four enormous amphoræ occupied the deck, on the two sides of the mast; towards the prow was a candelabrum, and at the stern was displayed a large-bellied cantharus, or vase, with mobile handles;[XXXI_17] the main-topmast
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE No. XXVI.
No. 1. A glass vase, with two handles.
No. 2. A glass vase, with three handles.
No. 3. Etruscan vase, with three handles, terra cotta.
No. 4. A large silver vase, to hold wine and water; when placed on the table, the liquor was taken out with simpulum, to fill the drinking cups.
No. 5. A large-bellied cantharus—“Herculaneum.”
was replaced by a large urn, and two cups of Bacchus were gracefully balanced at either extremity of the yard,[XXXI_18] along which were suspended craters, or vases, used in drinking wine.[XXXI_19]
The buffet of the Greeks and Romans survived the ruins of those two celebrated nations; we find it again in the middle ages, and even in more modern times. Then also, rich people loved to display their plate on a very apparent piece of furniture, which, being dressed, took the name of “dresser.” Monstrelet, describing the magnificence of the Duke of Burgundy during his sojourn in Paris, relates: “that in the room of his mansion in which he eat was a square dresser (dressoir) with shelves, which dresser was covered and loaded with very rich gold and silver plate.”[XXXI_20]
Sovereigns who affected great munificence had buffets of metal; there were three—one for silver, one for silver-gilt, and one for gold. At the banquet which the King of France, Charles V., gave to the Emperor Charles IV., his uncle, each of the three buffets was of the same metal as the plate it supported.[XXXI_21]
After the birth of a child, ladies, when they received visits, had a dresser placed in their room. Those of countesses and great ladies had three shelves; those of the wives of the younger sons of baronets had two; women well-connected but not titled could have no shelf. Those who enjoyed the honours of the court placed by the side of the buffet a little table, covered with a white cloth, destined for the hippocrass and spiced wine they offered their visitors,[XXXI_22] and which they drank in hanaps, or a kind of chalice of earthenware, gold, or silver. Those of crystal were much esteemed. Charles the Bald gave to the Abbey of St. Denis a hanap, said to have belonged to Solomon. “It was of pure gold, fine emeralds, fine garnets, and the work so marvellous that in all the kingdoms of the world never was there anything so perfect.”[XXXI_23]
The great lords also indulged in metal dressers,[XXXI_24] to which the 16th century gave the name of “buffets.” Under Henry II. of France the court called them crédence, from an Italian word bearing the same meaning,[XXXI_25] and which they have retained.
The Hebrews probably knew nothing of chimneys. When King Jehoiakim burned the book which Jeremiah had written, “he sat in the winter-house in the ninth month: and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him.”[XXXI_26]
When, among the Greeks or Romans, they wanted to warm the dining-room, they also had recourse to braziers or bronze furnaces of the dimension of a middling-sized table, resting on lion’s claws. Foliage in copper, bronze, and silver, was artistically incrusted round the edge. The bottom was a very thick iron grating. Above and beneath, brick-work prevented the coal from touching the upper part, or escaping through the interstices.[XXXI_27]
They also made use of two kinds of stoves to warm the dining-room—the one was concealed under ground in the massive wall, and little pipes extended from its orifice to the apartment; the other, portative and light, disappeared whenever it was judged expedient.[XXXI_28]
Among the pagans, the dining-room was lighted by torches made of a resinous wood,[XXXI_29] or tallow candles.[XXXI_30] The rich had lamps, candelabra,[XXXI_31] or magnificent lustres suspended from the ceiling.[XXXI_32] They even knew the luxury of wax candles.[XXXI_33]
In the middle ages, the sovereigns and the great lords had, in the middle of their dining-rooms, fountains playing, which poured fourth wine, hippocrass, and other liquors. Some gave rose-water and divers odoriferous liquids to perfume the banqueting-hall.
Rubruquis found in Tartary a Parisian goldsmith, Guillaume Boucher, who had settled under the sway of the Khan, and had made him one of those fountains.
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE No. XXVI B.
The Duke of Brunswick’s Vase.—This is one of the finest monuments we have yet seen, which has reference to the mysteries and sacrifices of Ceres and Bacchus. It is a precious vase, made of one single piece of onyx, from the cabinet of the Duke of Brunswick, and of the size represented in the engraving. It was published, and learnedly explained, in 1682, by Jean Henry Eggeling, and printed in the same year. This vase is of a singular form; has one handle, and on the other side a spout, which begins at the bottom, and finishes by a bend towards the top, to pour out the liquor. Eggeling believes that this vase is of the number of those the ancients called guttus, because the liquor came out drop by drop: he comes to that conclusion from a passage of Varro—“Quo vinum dabant, ut minutatim funderent, a guttis guttum appellarunt.” The vase is divided in three parts by two bands of gold, by which it is girdled: that of the middle, which forms the largest space, contains also a larger number of figures. The third diminishes towards the foot, and has figures also, all of which represent the mysteries and sacrifices of Ceres and Bacchus.
The reader will probably feel interested how this vase came into the possession of the Duke of Brunswick. It was in the cabinet of the Duke of Mantua. When that city was taken and sacked, in 1629, a soldier, who had possession of the vase, offered it to Francis Albert, Duke of Lower Saxony, his commander, who gave him a hundred ducats as a reward. This prince left it by will to the Princess Christina Marguerite of Mecklenburg, his wife, who left it in the same way to her sister, the Princess Sophia, Duchess of Brunswick. She also gave it by will to her son, Ferdinand Albert, Duke of Brunswick. The lapidaries thought so much of it, that they offered, in turn, from sixty to ninety thousand imperials. In the inventory of the Princess Sophia it was valued at one hundred and fifty thousand imperials.[T]
The municipal bodies adopted them. At the entrance of Charles VII. into Paris, one of this kind was seen in the Rue St. Denis:—“One of the tubes spouted milk, another vermilion-coloured wine, another white wine, and another pure water; and persons stood all round with silver cups to give drink to the passers-by.”
In the 17th century playing fountains were still used at repasts.[XXXI_34]
It is pretended, says Athenæus, that in the Homeric times each guest had a table to himself,[XXXII_1] on which he was served with “a saddle-back of beef, or a whole sheep or goat.” It was the custom among the heroes, all men of high lineage, and tolerably aristocratic in their tastes. The burghers of those warlike times and the villeins of the epoch eat their dinner, without form or ceremony, on a heap of grass, which also served them as a seat or couch.[XXXII_2]
Wooden tables—at first very clumsy ones, no doubt—only came into use when the development of human industry had enabled men to understand that they might be preferable to a truss of hay.[XXXII_3] A passage in Homer would seem to show that they were very much like ours.[XXXII_4] Perhaps the circular form was generally preferred.[XXXII_5]
Luxury soon called for the most precious materials, and the Greeks had, at a very early period, tables of bronze,[XXXII_6] and even of fine silver.[XXXII_7] The isle of Rhenea produced magnificent ones,[XXXII_8] and an expensive fashion caused those luxurious pieces of furniture to be prized when they presented delicate incrustations of silver, bronze, or ivory, and rested on lions’ claws or leopards’ feet.[XXXII_9]
Cneus Manlius introduced these rarities into Rome after the conquest of Asia.[XXXII_10] He was also the originator of tables veneered with plates of gold,[XXXII_11] which ere long adorned the dining-rooms of princes and senators, and the excessive price of which was only surpassed by that of tables made of precious woods from distant countries.[XXXII_12] The maple, the whitten, and a species of African lemon-tree occupied the first rank,[XXXII_13] and the prodigious skill of the workmen gave them a value superior to gold and silver.[XXXII_14]
The most beautiful of these tables were spotted or veined to imitate the tiger’s or panther’s skin; but they acquired an exorbitant claim upon the admiration of connoisseurs when they bore the marvellous design of a peacock’s tail. This fantastic play of nature commanded a boundless price.[XXXII_15]
An artist of unrivalled talent, Carvilius Pollio, was the first, according to Pliny,[XXXII_16] who enriched these magnificent woods with buhl-work of ivory and shell in the acme of perfection.[XXXII_17] Under the reign of Nero, the Romans dyed this shell, and thought to increase its primitive value by giving it the tints and accidental shades of the cedar, the maple, and the lemon tree.[XXXII_18]
These splendid pieces of furniture were at first square;[XXXII_19] then round;[XXXII_20] then in the form of a half-circle or half-moon, and this horseshoe-shaped table they called a sigma, from the name of that Greek letter, which resembled our C.[XXXII_21] The guests whom any person wished to honour most were placed at the extremities of this hemicycle,[XXXII_22] overlaid with magnificent covers, which replaced the skins of beasts, formerly used for their adornment; and, in addition, they were spread with tissues of fine linen and rich stuffs elaborately worked.[XXXII_23]
The tables were changed at each course.[XXXII_24] The Greeks cleaned them with sponge;[XXXII_25] the Latins used a sort of thick, plushed, linen cloth.[XXXII_26]
The opulent citizens possessed a great number of tables; some were of ivory,[XXXII_27] others of maple wood, cedar of Mount Atlas,[XXXII_28] or lemon.[XXXII_29][U] Cicero had one of this latter kind of wood which cost him 200,000 sesterces—about £1,480.[XXXII_30] They rested on one, two, or three feet,[XXXII_31] and were called monopedes, bipedes, and tripedes.
The Romans often changed tables only twice during the repast. Fish and flesh appeared on the first, and the fruit was served on the second.[XXXII_32] The same custom was common to the Greeks and the oriental nations. The Hebrews had also two tables in their solemn feasts and sacrificial banquets; on one was served the flesh of the victim, and on the other they placed the cup of benediction, which passed round from one to another, and was called “the cup of praise.”[XXXII_33]
The luxury of Rome seemed to revive after she had become extinct. Saint Rémi, Bishop of Rheims, left to his heirs a silver table, embellished with figures.[XXXII_34] Charlemagne had three made of the same metal—the first represented the ancient capital of the world; the second, Constantinople; the third, every known region of the earth.[XXXII_35] Aymar, Viscount of Limoges, found on his estate a treasure, which consisted of a table, round which were seated an emperor, his wife, and several children—all as large as life, and of massive gold. Richard Cœur-de-Lion pretended that the treasure belonged to him as Lord of Limousin, and went to lay siege to the castle of Chalons, to which Aymar had retired, where the king received a wound, of which he died the 6th of April, 1199.[XXXII_36]
Silver tables still existed in the 17th century. Madame de Sévigné (1689), speaking of persons who, following the example of Louis XIV., sent their plate to the mint, says: “Madame de Chaulnes has sent her table, two guéridons, and her beautiful toilet of silver gilt.”
At some distance from the sigma, on a slightly raised platform, were three kinds of elegant crédences for the cups, wines, and vases.[XXXII_37] The major-domo himself, generally attended to this part of the service.
A very curious old book, cited by Strutt, “The Booke of Kervynge,”[XXXII_38] contains the following instructions as to the manner of laying the cloth for the King of England:—
“Serve your Soverayne with wafers and ypocras. Also loke your composte be fayre and clene, and your ale fyve dayes olde before men drynke it, and be curtays of answere to eche persone; and whan ye laye the clothe, wype the borde clene with a cloute (cloth); then lay a couch (cloth), take your feluwe, that one ende, and holde you the other ende, then drawe the clothe straught, the bought on the utter edge, take the utter parte and hange it even, then take the thyrde clothe, and laye it bought on the inner edge, and laye estat with the upper parte halfe a fote brode, then cover thy cupborde and thyne ewery with the towel of dyaper; than take thy towell about thy necke, and laye that on syde of the towel upon thy lefte arme, and thereon laye your soveraynes napkyn, and on thyn arme seven loves of brede, with thre or foure trenchour loves, with the ende of the towel, in the lefte hande as the maner is; then take thy salte seller in thy lefte hande, and take the ende of the
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE No. XXVII.
No. 1. Etruscan flat vase, of terra cotta, with a cover, to hold a particular drink (warm, perhaps).
No. 2. A marble vase, ornamented, for water.
No. 3. A metal vase, to fill the cups of the guests.
No. 4. A Greek Etruscan drinking vase, of terra cotta, in form of a seated Bacchanal.—“Hercul.”
towell in your ryght hand, to bear in spones and knyves; than set your salte on the ryght syde, where your soverayne shall sytte, and on the lefte syde the salte set your trenchoures; than laye your knyves, and set your brede one lofe by another; your spones, and your napkyns, fayre folder besyde your brede, than over your brede, and trenchours, spones, and knyves, and at every ende of the table set a salte seller, with two trenchour loves, and yf ye wyll wrappe youre soverayne’s brede stately, ye must square and proporcyon your brede, and see that no lofe be more than another; and than shall ye make your wrapper manerly; than take a towell of reynes, of two yerdes and an halfe, and take the towell by the endes double, and laye it on the table; than take the ende of the bought a handfull in your hande, and wrape it harde, and laye the ende so wrapped betwene two towells, upon that ende so wrapped laye your brede, bottom to bottom, syx or seven loves; than set your brede manerly in fourm, and whan your soverayne’s table is thus arrayed, cover all other bordes with salt, trenchours, and cuppes; and se thyn ewery be arrayed with basyns and ewers, and water, hote and colde; and se ye have napkins, cuppes and spones; and se your pottes for wyne and ale be made clene, and to the surnape make curtesy, with a clothe, under a fayre double napry; than take the towelle’s ende next you, and the utter ende of the clothe, on the utter syde of the table, and holde these three endes at ones, and folde them at ones, that a plyte passe not a fote brode; than laye it as it should lye: and after mete wasshe with that, that is at the ryghte ende of the table, ye must guyde it out, and the marshall must convey it; and loke on eche clothe, the ryghte syde be outwarde, and draw it streygthe; than must ye reyse the upper parte of the towell, and laye it without ony grouyng, and at every ende of the towell, ye must convey halfe a yarde that the sewer may make reverently and let it be. And whan your soverayne hath washen, drawe the surnape even; than bere the surnape to the myddes of the borde, and take it up before your soverayne, and bere it into the ewery agayne; and whan your soverayne is set, loke your towell be aboute your necke; then make your soverayne curtesy; than uncover your brede, and set it by the salt, and laye your napkyn, knyfe, and spone, afore hym; than knele on your knee till the purpayne passe eyght loves; and loke ye set at your endes of the table foure loves at a messe; and se that every persone have napkyn and spone, and wayte well to the server, how many dysshes be covered, that so many cuppes cover ye; than serve ye forth the table manerly, that every man may speke your curtesy.”
The Jews originally sat down to their meals; but when they became subject to Persia they laid on couches at their repasts, like their conquerors, and other oriental nations, from whom the Greeks and Romans borrowed their custom.[XXXII_39] The most distinguished place was at the head of the table, at the extremity of the room, near the wall. Saul sat in this place of honour.[XXXII_40] Under the reign of Solomon, the Hebrews still used seats.[XXXII_41] The Egyptians were early acquainted with the effeminate sumptuousness of table couches. They often placed on them the venerated images of Jupiter, Juno, and their king himself.[XXXII_42]
Before they had adopted this refinement of oriental luxury, the Greeks sat at their repasts on chairs, more or less costly, but all very elegant, similar to those which adorn our drawing-rooms, and which have been modelled from theirs.[XXXII_43]
Homer’s heroes sat down to table,[XXXII_44] and Alexander the Great appears to have preserved the custom. That prince giving a repast to ten thousand persons, caused all to be seated in silver arm-chairs, covered with purple.[XXXII_45] However, Hegesander assures us that, among the Macedonians, he who had succeeded in killing a wild boar, reclined at full length, whilst the other guests remained seated.[XXXII_46]
Italy always imitated Greece, and, like her, had table couches, which at first, were only used by men: a feeling of propriety interdicted their use by women.[XXXII_47] But the relaxation of morals, seconded by fashion, soon banished this seeming reserve, and the two sexes could only eat in a reclining posture.[XXXII_48]
A round, low table, made of common wood, and resting on three legs, was placed in the dining-room of persons in humble life; the rich had it made of lemon or maple wood, and supported by a single ivory foot.[XXXII_49] Three couches at most were arranged round this table (triclinium);[XXXII_50] sometimes two, which Plautus names biclinium;[XXXII_51] and these they covered with purple or other magnificent stuffs.[XXXII_52] Before they placed themselves, the guests performed their ablutions and threw off their togas, to substitute the “dinner robe.”[XXXII_53] They then took off their sandals,[XXXII_54] and lay down, three or four on each couch.[XXXII_55] The rules of good society did not allow that number to be exceeded.
The upper part of the body was supported by the left elbow; the lower part was extended. The head was slightly raised, and downy little cushions supported the back.[XXXII_56] When several persons occupied the same couch, the first placed himself at the head, in such a manner that his feet nearly reached the shoulders of the second guest, whose head was before the middle of the body of the preceding one, from whom he was separated by a cushion; and his feet descended to the back of the third guest, who followed the same order with respect to the fourth.[XXXII_57]
When a couch contained three persons, the one in the middle occupied the place of honour; when there were four, that distinction belonged to the second. The place at the head of the couch was only offered to the most worthy, when not more than two persons were on the couch.[XXXII_58]
Among the Persians, the middle place was reserved for the king. Cyrus placed on his left the guest to whom he wished to do the most honour, the next on his right, the third on the left, the fourth on the right, and so on, down to the last.[XXXII_59] In Greece, the most distinguished personage occupied the head of the table.[XXXII_60]
The voluptuous Heliogabalus only made use of couches stuffed with hares’ down or partridges’ feathers.[XXXII_61] The Emperor Œlius Verus introduced a more exquisite novelty: he had his filled with lily and rose leaves.[XXXII_62] The first of these princes—a cruel monarch, or capricious child, according to his strange whims—amused himself, sometimes, by placing on a couch, round the sigma, at one time eight bald men; at another, eight gouty men; one day, eight grey-headed old men; another day, eight very fat men, who were so crowded together that it was almost impossible for them to raise their hands to the mouth. And the brainless dolt shook with laughter at their efforts and their contortions.[XXXII_63] One of his favourite diversions consisted in filling a leathern table-couch with air, instead of wool; and while the guests were engaged in drinking, a tap, concealed under the carpet, was opened, unknown to them; the couch sank, and the drinkers rolled pell-mell under the sigma, to the great delight of the beardless emperor, who enjoyed greatly his espiéglerie.[XXXII_64]
The Celts seated themselves at their repasts on hay, before very low tables;[XXXII_65] the Belgians reclined on a kind of couch;[XXXII_66] the Gauls on the skins of dogs or wolves.[XXXII_67] These different authorities are easily reconciled; for they relate to different cantons of Gaul.
The use of couches was not unknown in the middle ages; we find the proof of it in the fabliaux of the 13th century. We have also the description of a magnificent repast given by a bishop to two great officers of Charlemagne, at which the prelate was seated, or lying, on feather cushions.[XXXII_68] But this fashion was unsuccessful, and people preferred wooden seats and stools, covered with carpet. When they gave a great feast, they seated the guests on benches—bancs—whence comes the word “banquet.”[XXXII_69] Henry III. of France introduced arm-chairs for himself, and folding stools for his suite.[XXXII_70] Sometimes people eat on the floor. St. Arnold, Bishop of Soissons, took his repast in that manner on the day of the dedication of a church, after having had carpets spread on the ground.[XXXII_71] In winter the banqueting place was spread with straw or hay, and in summer with grass and leaves. Publicans and tavern-keepers decorated their rooms in like manner.[XXXII_72]
The gallantry of the middle ages had led to the adoption of a rather singular custom, which consisted in placing the guests two and two, man and woman, and serving for each couple one common dish, which they called “eating in the same porringer.” Neither had they more than one cup. In families the same goblet served for all. Saint Berlanda was disinherited by her father, who was exasperated because, under pretext that he was leprous, she had washed his goblet before making use of it for herself.[XXXII_73]
A passage in Martial would seem to imply that the guests, among the Romans, laid the cloth themselves;[XXXII_74] that is to say, they spread on the sigma the stuff, more or less precious, with which it was to be adorned.
A somewhat whimsical custom was established in the middle ages of chivalry. When it was intended to affront any one, a herald, or king-at-arms, was sent to cut the cloth before him, and turn his bread upside down. That was called “cutting away the cloth,” and was practised in reference to cowards and faithless vassals. It is thought that Bertrand Duguesclin was the originator of this custom.[XXXII_75]
Mention is made of table-cloths in the life of St. Eloi. They were in use on common tables; but the costly ones were not covered. These cloths were plushed and shaggy, as we find by the description of Nigellus, the author of a poem on Louis-le-Débonnaire. They were of vast dimensions. In the inventory of certain effects in the monastery of Fontenelle, in the 9th century, we read of four table-cloths, each of which measured twelve yards and a-half by two and a-half; another, twelve and a-half by three and three-quarters; and thirteen, three yards and three-quarters wide.
In the 12th and 13th centuries table-cloths were called, in France, doubliers, doubtless because they were folded in two. This practice was eventually given up; and instead of a doubled cloth, the first was covered by a smaller one, and removed at the last course. Henry III. required this dessert cloth to be artistically plaited, so as to present pleasing designs.[XXXII_76]
Napkins were much used in Greece and Italy. In the time of Augustus, and many years after, each guest brought his own, as we bring our pocket-handkerchiefs. Catullus complains of a certain Asinius, who had stolen his. Martial brings a similar accusation against a parasite named Hermogenes.[XXXII_77]
Napkins were sometimes made of asbestos, and they were thrown into a brazier to clean them.[XXXII_78] But these rarities were seldom possessed by any but princes, for asbestos was as expensive as jewels.[XXXII_79]
The constitution of St. Ansegisius for the monastery of Fontenelle mentions plush napkins to wipe the hands, but they were only used before and after the repast. The town of Rheims was renowned in the middle ages for the manufacture of table linen. When Charles VII. made his entrance there they presented him with napkins, “very rich and curious by reason of the beautiful flowered work.”
All the opulent families had a great number of servants, or slaves, whose low extraction,[XXXIII_1] the chances of war,[XXXIII_2] or the parental will,[XXXIII_3] subjected to the caprices of the rich as a mere thing possessed, a right, a property (res).
They were known, like the slaves of the Jews[XXXIII_4] in former times, by their ears, which were pierced with an awl;[XXXIII_5] an ineffaceable stigma, which always reminded the freed-man of his former humiliation. The slave was also often marked with a hot iron on the back, the hands, the cheeks, or the forehead; and the characters thus imprinted served the master as an evidence against his fugitive servant in whatsoever place he might find him.[XXXIII_6] It is, perhaps, to similar marks that the prophet Zechariah makes allusion, when he says: “What are these wounds in thine hands?”[XXXIII_7] Plautus, whose comic vein respects neither the power of the Gods nor the sanctity of misfortune, calls these unfortunate creatures “lettered slaves” (servos literatos).[XXXIII_8]
A house of any note could not do without a crowd of servants, to whom the steward (dispensator) apportioned the labour, the food, and the chastisements.[XXXIII_9]
In a lodge near the vestibule was the porter (ostiarius),[XXXIII_10] whose watchful eye observed every one who went in or out by day or night. They made sure of his vigilance by chaining him to his place.[XXXIII_11]
The hall (atrium) was guarded by an intelligent and confidential servant, whose functions raised him above the other slaves.[XXXIII_12] The atriensis—such was his designation—had the care of the arms, trophies, precious furniture, and books, which adorned this apartment. He had also to take extreme care of the paintings and wax figures there preserved from motives of vanity or by a sentiment of respect; and it was he who carried those images of venerated ancestors before the funeral procession of the head of the family when, in his turn, death had numbered him with his progenitors.[XXXIII_13]
The obsonator bought in the markets the meat, fruit, and delicacies necessary for the repasts.[XXXIII_14]
The vocatores carried the invitations, received the guests, and placed them at table according to their rank.[XXXIII_15] These functions required a peculiar kind of urbanity and long experience on the part of the individual who fulfilled them.
The arrangement, the keeping in order, and adornment of the table-couches belonged exclusively to the cubicularii (valets).[XXXIII_16] These servants are mentioned in Suetonius and other ancient authors. The Cæsars had a great number of cubicularii who obeyed one particular chief.[XXXIII_17]
The dapiferi brought the dishes into the dining-room,[XXXIII_18] and the nomenclators (nomenculatores) immediately informed the guests of the names and qualities of the things with which they were going to be served.[XXXIII_19]
The structor arranged the dishes symmetrically.[XXXIII_20] The scissor (carver) cut up the meats to the sound of musical instruments, of which he followed the measure. Finally, young slaves (procillatores),[XXXIII_21] served the guests attentively, and poured out their drink. Those chosen for this employment were fine, beardless, adolescent youths, with a fresh complexion, whose long silky hair fell in curls over the shoulders. A wide riband which went twice round the waist confined their fine, white tunic—a light, graceful vestment, which descended in front to the knees, and behind hardly covered the hamstring.[XXXIII_22]
While the guests, softly reclining on their table-couches, were enjoying the agreeable surprise reserved for them by an amiable amphitryon, slaves (sandaligeruli) attended to their sandals, and fastened them on at the moment of departure.[XXXIII_23] Others, (flabellarii) armed with fans of peacocks’ feathers,[XXXIII_24] drove away the flies, and cooled the banqueting-hall.[XXXIII_25]
The banquet terminated, servants with torches and lanterns (adversitores) conducted their masters home, and pointed out to them the stones that might be lying in their path, and which repeated libations might have prevented their visual organs from discovering.[XXXIII_26]
We must not omit, in this nomenclature of the principal servants of a good house, the taster (prægustator), who tasted or tried the viands before the guests touched them;[XXXIII_27] nor the chief steward (triclinarches), and director of the repast, who had to occupy himself with an infinity of details in the kitchen, the cellar, the pantry, the buffet, and the dining-room.[XXXIII_28]
A living synthesis of these multiplied services, he performed them all himself. The least negligence, the slightest absence of mind on his part, would have ruined the reputation, utterly marred the sumptuous hospitality, of his master.
Never did the general of an army tremble under the weight of a responsibility so redoubtable.
Procillatores, or cup-bearer, an officer whose duty was to fill and present the cup to the king and princes. This charge was known in Egypt, and the ancients transformed Ganymede into a cup-bearer to the gods.
Charlemagne had master cup-bearers. These officers signed royal charters, and kept rank amongst the great officers of state. The head one took the title of Echanson to the king, of master, premier, or great échanson. In the 15th century the échansons exercised their functions only on the coronations, marriages, and entries of kings and queens. Louis XVIII. re-established the office of premier échanson. It was abolished in 1830.
There was, moreover, a class of miserable, obscure, despised slaves, whose useful labours rendered them necessary, and who were treated much the same as beasts of burden. This order of subaltern servants were composed of:—
The lecticarii. They carried the elegant palanquin in which the haughty matron or the noble senator were conveyed to the banqueting-hall.[XXXIII_29]
The stokers (focarii), who cut the wood, lighted, and attended to the fires.[XXXIII_30]
The sweepers (scoparii), whose indefatigable activity kept the apartments and furniture clean.[XXXIII_31]